To Catch a Predator · Long Beach investigation
Justin Smith
Justin Smith was arrested during the Long Beach, California investigation. He pleaded no contest and received five years of probation, road-cleanup work and lifetime registration.
Photo: To Catch a Predator Wiki
- Outcome
- Sentenced
- Evidence
- Attributed reporting
- Jurisdiction
- Long Beach, California
- Encounter
- Not established
- Decoy posed as
- Girl3
- Case number
- Not established
Personal details
- Born
- April 7, 1979
- Occupation
- Post-production editor
- Height
- 5′9″
- Weight
- 165 lb.
- Eyes
- Brown
Charges & sentence
2 counts · 2 convicted
Sentence
5 years of probation, 60 days of Caltrans cleanup, counseling and lifetime registration.
Attributed to the sources below. Consult the original record for full terms.
Case records
Hansen investigationSentenced
2 counts · 2 convicted
Sentence
5 years of probation, 60 days of Caltrans cleanup, counseling and lifetime registration.5
Reviewed sting-related legal outcome. No jail term reported; employment-related speculation excluded. Second pass could not reopen the NBC article because access is restricted. New charge and plea claims are attributed to the archived Aftermath. Its first offense label does not clearly distinguish attempted from completed conduct; a neutral label is retained pending the original judgment. No exact plea date adopted.
Sources 5
Case narrative
Biography
Justin Smith was a twenty seven year-old freelance post-production editor, director, and producer at Nickelodeon at the time.
Sting and Arrest
Upon arriving at the sting house, Smith was greeted by an 18-year-old actress posing as the 13-year-old girl, who informed him that she had made them drinks and had a hot tub. The decoy also mentioned that she enjoyed the pornographic links he had sent. However, Chris Hansen then revealed himself and instructed Smith to take a seat. Smith appeared shocked and quickly grabbed his keys, attempting to run out of the sting house. However, he was stopped by Long Beach police officers. Smith began to cry uncontrollably and repeatedly apologized, claiming that he never intended to do anything wrong. During his police interview, Smith expressed his concern that his arrest could have a negative impact on his job, friends, family, and the dog him and his girlfriend had together. He was shown sobbing with his glasses off at the processing center. Following his arrest, Nickelodeon terminated Smith's employment and stated that he had no contact with children during his time working there.
Aftermath
On January 31, 2007, Smith would later plead no contest against both felony charges he was facing.
He still works for television and was a recently a producer for a show called celebrity call center.
Community-written, from the To Catch a Predator Wiki. Not independently verified, and it does not establish charges or court outcomes.
Justin Smith, To Catch a Predator Wiki contributors; see revision and history links. · CC-BY-SA
Media
Sources
- 1103: Justin Smith on MegaphonePublic episode metadata matches the publisher RSS recording by title, release date and exact enclosure identifier. Reviewed publisher title/description names this profile as the subject of the recording.
- 2103: Justin Smith on SpotifyPublic episode metadata matches the publisher RSS recording by title, release date and exact enclosure identifier. Reviewed publisher title/description names this profile as the subject of the recording.
- 3Justin Smith (community wiki)Attributed community article. Revision date describes the article update, not a court or sting event. Full infobox, narrative sections, references and assets are retained in the private archive.
- 4Justin Smith: occupation informationThe profile infobox lists these occupations. Undated roles do not establish current employment.
- 5Justin Smith: legal outcome (revision 12111)5 years of probation, 60 days of Caltrans cleanup, counseling and lifetime registration.